Latest updates

Podcast episode: One technique that is a constant in the music of Billy Jenkins is the "stick in the wheel". One method might be use a skilled musician playing an unfamiliar instrument, another approach is to have two drummers using stick and drum kits... Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast.

Blog post: I've done very little to show my work beyond this site and some Facebook posts to a relatively private circle of friends so I'm taking steps to put some physical prints from a current project out into the world... Read post

Podcast episode: It's the first episode of Series Three and we're travelling back through the years to Bromley at the time when the 1950s were rolling over into the 1960s... It was then that a young Billy Jenkins was taken from his happy world in the back garden to the church hall and cast into the hell that was nursery school. It's all recalled for the Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast.

In the news: I recently met the legendary Mercury Man of 853 blog fame who was curious to hear about my activities with pinhole photography. He suggested I should write him an article on the subject to feature into his regular spot... Read the article

Blog post: Since 2001, the last Sunday in April has been Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day. The idea is that pinhole photographers across the world take a photograph on the day and upload it to a huge online gallery... Read post

Blog post: What's the dream of a photographer who loves music? Apart from producing an expensive book that sells millions of copies and rakes in obscene wads of cash? Simple: a commission to take an album cover photo... Read post

In the news: After a lifetime of writing or editing news stories it's a rare treat to get a mention in someone else's news story - and before you say anything, no it's not as one of the accused. It's a feature about the Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast on the 853 blog... Read the article

Blog post: Every year I think I should get myself organised to create a festive photograph and print out a few cards. Usually I don't think of it early enough but this year a chance find gave me an idea... Read post

Podcast episode: Of all forms of jazz, free improvisation is possibly the most challenging for the listening audience. Billy recognises this and to make things a little easier for listeners he devised his musical Big Fights... Beowulf Mayfield cornered record producer Tony Messenger to describe the challenges of recording a musical fight for the Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast.

Podcast episode: There's too much going on in the world - too much information, too much noise, too much social pressure and too much of everything! In this episode Billy describes how the irritations of suburban life inspired one of his most stamping, stomping and comical blues songs... Hear him talking with Beowulf Mayfield for the Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast.

Project update: I've been working on a series of photographs of the unseen side of music making - the process of music practice - a routine, often horribly repetitive process that can shape a student into a world-class musician, or reduce them to a blubbering wreck who never wants to look at an instrument ever again. As someone who never did enough practice, I'm turning my lens on some of the people who did... Read all about it

Blog post: For some reason, just about every time I go to the seaside on a sunny day I buy a toy windmill, the more colourful the better, and take a set of blurred motion pictures. Once I've finished I give it away - usually to a family with a young kid in tow... Read post.

Podcast episode: Record producer Tony Messenger jumped into his amazing psychadelic-wrapped car for the trip to leafy Brockley to talk about his long association with Billy Jenkins and the challenges of capturing the essence of his musical ideas on record... Hear him talking with Beowulf Mayfield for the Billy Jenkins Listening Club podcast.

Podcast episode: Musician Billy Jenkins explains his philosophy of "aural cartoons" and describes how an overdose of so-called "smooth" jazz can really grate on the nerves. It might be exploring a form of torture but there's no connection with the Marquis de Sade - really... Listen

Blog post: When I encounter musicians playing in the street, the former musician in me starts judging the quality of their musical performance - or lack of it. However, these days I also find myself considering how I might like to photograph them... Read post

Blog post: Toys are excellent for pinhole photography subjects - they don't mind sitting still for hours on end and they don't complain that you've made them look fat. Pinhole photography lets you get really close up on the miniature world...Read post

Blog post: Stop animation has always interested me and I had the idea of creating an animation using toy military bandsmen to illustrate a track by the great guitarist and composer Billy Jenkins. I set about photographing a mixed bunch of toys and pieced them together to produce a minute of animated musical anarchy using simple iMovie software. It took a bit of patience but it was fun...Read post

I've always loved music and used to play piano, saxophone and guitar. However, my creative energies switched over to photography in 2007 and I've devoted my attentions to that ever since. Most of my photography has been landscape and tabletop set ups but I'm now turning my lens onto musicians. Read more...

If you've never heard of Billy Jenkins before don't worry - there is a first time for everything and you might find you like what you hear. You can read more about him and see some audio-visual slideshows here...